Thursday, June 25, 2009

This One's For the Ladies

(Only a few feminist blogs and an AP news article written today have offered an adequate appreciation for the astounding courage and resiliency of the Iranian women who from the beginning have stood up and stood at the very vanguard of the protests in Tehran and elsewhere. Even when they couldn't throw rocks far enough, they collected them and handed them to the stronger men while putting their very lives at risk. Therefore, it's only appropriate that I honor them with a photo essay to recognize their unexpected courage and passion in standing up to a regime that has already repressed them for generations and have only suffered under some of the most shocking acts of misogynism on the planet earth. Let it be known that all these images were actually taken in Iran in the past week and a half and not at the much safer and more orderly protests by Iranian Americans in the US or elsewhere in the world.)

Finally, my choice for what will be the iconic photo of Iranian protest after this is all done and over with:

17 Comments:

Maybe if this was AmericaBlog or Crooks and Liars. But this is Pottersville and I barely topped out at 4000 hits today. Sometimes I do better than that. I don't see the Iranian government as being one of my biggest readers.

Hey, dudes, I'm just stating a fact. There's no crime in admitting that Iran's women are hot. Lighten the fuck up and don't you dare impugn my honesty. I really do admire these women for their courage.

Wonderful inspiring pics!!! Not to bring up a sore spot but I noticed some of the comments. The tension around the Iranian situation is so extremely high, as you obviously are aware. I believe that tension is helping people to speak out more on other social issues that desperately need resolution. I tend to agree that your comment about the women being 'hot' is sort of degrading to them and detracts from their courage. It is more than a casual observation in this case because the implication( likely unintended by you) is that their good looks and "being some of the banging-est women on the planet" ( ie being fuckable ) are what makes them worthwhile as people.

Comarde Rutherford's comment "Beautiful and ferocious" does not have such an implication, imho.

That's bullshit. If all I thought of them were sex objects, I wouldn't've taken all that time last night hunting down protest pictures, saving and uploading them. It was a comment that just happened to mention that some of them are sexy and there's nothing wrong with admitting that. I;m sure many of them would be glad to hear such a compliment.

But you people are allowing yourselves to get detracted from my original message, that these courageous women are putting their lives on the line (and, in some cases, losing them) for their democracy.

The comment was not intended to generate or imply as much or more importance than the original post. Otherwise, I would've included that observation in with the post itself but didn't for obvious reasons.

First and foremost, I admire their courage and willingness to risk their lives for what they believe in and to throw off the misogynistic shackles with which these uptight Nazis have bound them.

Sorry for any distress you are feeling. I did mention that it seems unlikely that you meant any harm in your comment. It just seems inappropriate when people are losing their lives to make an inane comment on their attractiveness.You are correct, your comment is detracting people from your original message. You didn't include it in the original post for 'obvious reasons'... why include it at all.

I was particularly impressed with the ladies who either were gathering rocks or were personally confronting TPTB to stop some serious injustices.

Let me be frank here, if the young lady Neda, who was murdered by a sniper last Summer had been seventy instead of twenty, nobody would have even heard about it. How many demonstrations have I heard about over our killing twenty five civilians in an air raid yesterday in Afghanistan have I heard about? One, a local one.